Cross Breeds

Why are the canine species (dogs) the only species who have mixed breeds besides humans?

I mean theirs many mixed breeds of dogs but say in the feline species I never seen a tiger mixed with a lion or say in snake species I never heard of mating an anaconda with say a python or an eagle mating with an owl their all the same species.... wow a liger i did not no that ,cool......

Public Comments

1. they arent plenty of animals are cross bred farm stock for instance
2. Yes there are! this is a lion mixed with a tiger- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liger
3. lion and tiger(liger) plenty of animals cross breed
4. All humans and all domestic dogs are all the same species, we just in general tend to have greater genetic diversity than some other species. Two dogs of different breeds or two humans of different races are still the same species. Just like two domestic cats or two horses of different breeds are still the same species. They just tend to look more similar because of less genetic diversity. Members of different species that are similar genetically can and do sometimes interbreed and produce viable offspring however it generally occures in captive situations where suitable mates of their own species are not avaliable. Lions and Tigers have been known to cross breed, you can search liger and tigon for more information. Some snakes such as the king snake and the milk snake can also hybridize and that cobmination is actaully fairly common in the pet trade. Some species of birds also hybridize while eagles and owls are to different to hybridze many bird species do such as various species of finches zebra/society zebra/owl finch and zebra/black hooded nun are all common and the society finch itself is a hybrid species. Another example is cockatiels and grass parakeets. You can find a database of birds that have known records of hybridization here http://www.bird-hybrids.com/ just enter the common name into the search bar and it will show you all known hybridizations (note that the hybridizations are all shown in scientific name so you will need to search on the scientific name on google or another search engine to find the common name)
5. Here is the skinny on this subject. Domestic dogs are canis domestica. Below that are the many breeds, huskies, spaniels, etc. These can mate and produce viable offspring. House cats are felis domestica (some may use another term for genus and species). Below that are the many breeds, persian, angora, etc. These can mate and produce viable offspring. If the animal belongs to the same family and genus but different species, they can mate but the offspring will be sterile. Donkey and horse produce a mule that is sterile.
6. Taxonomically speaking, animals generally have to be within the same species to breed successfully and produce fertile offspring. Mules are the result of breeding horses with donkeys, but mules are infertile, so you can't breed a mule to a mule. Wolves can breed with dogs because they are of the same species. They share the scientific name of Canus lupis (Canus the genus, lupis the species). Domestic dogs are merely a subspecies, or variety (i.e. "race") of the wolf. Their scientific classification is Canus lupis familiarus. Domestic cats are not within the same species (or even the same genus) as that of the larger cats (lions, tigers, etc.). Ligers (hybrid between lions and tigers) are rare, but do occur, but only the females are fertile. All humans are of the classification Homo sapiens, with differences explained through various "races" - therefore all human races can "interbreed". Scientific classification of animals by humans often has gray areas that cannot be explained in finite, black & white - many times over in history classification of animals changes as more is learned about the differences or similarities between 2 or more species.
7. Horses, sheep, cattle and chickens (and probably other farm stock too) all have mixed species. Why, one of my horses is a Thoroughbred crossed with an Irish Draft.
8. http://www.scienceray.com/Biology/Zoology/Real-Mixed-Up-Animals.255217 this link has picture of Liger, Zorse, Wolphin and some others people do not breed with monkeys.. so if you are refering to blacks and whites.. that isnt at all the same as a tiger with a lion. it is more like one type of tiger with another type of tiger. anyhow the link is cool and has neat pictures check it out the Wolphin is beautiful!